


In the Mist of the Morning

by animeangelriku



Series: Spooky Fanfic Week [6]
Category: Glee RPF
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Spooky AU, Werewolf!Darren
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-29
Updated: 2016-10-29
Packaged: 2018-08-27 17:45:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8410738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/animeangelriku/pseuds/animeangelriku
Summary: Shifting into a werewolf every full moon and waking up having no memory of it is a burden Darren's had to carry his entire life. But any burden is lighter when he's got Chris to help him carry it.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I've been trying to write this for _hours_ , trying different plots and AUs and prompts, but I finally managed to write something I liked, and so hopefully you guys will like it, too! This is the penultimate fic of my Spooky Fanfic Week!! We're getting so close to the end! This was partially inspired by a prompt in [this post](http://promptinspiration.tumblr.com/post/130042813148/mythological-creature-aus) and also this [gorgeous animation](https://vimeo.com/127551931)!
> 
> You can also read it at my [Tumblr!](http://animeangelriku.tumblr.com/post/152481927507/crisscolfer-in-the-mist-of-the-morning)

When Darren woke up, it took him about two minutes to figure out where he was. 

The trees should’ve been a dead giveaway, but every time he woke up after a night with a full moon, his memory was blurry at the edges and his head was pounding and usually his entire body hurt, so deciphering his location from staring at the trees around him often wasn’t his priority, even if it was the same meadow every time. 

“Good morning, sleepy-head.”

Darren turned his head to the side—as _slowly_ as possible, good God, he felt like his head might explode—to find Chris sitting cross-legged against one of the trees, his closed laptop on his lap and a backpack lying next to him on the ground. Darren’s eyes immediately went to the sweater Chris was wearing: it was the sweater Darren’s mom had knitted for Chris as a gift on the second Christmas after they’d started dating, the sweater with orange and black stripes and an evil-looking pumpkin in the middle. 

It was both ugly as fuck and hilarious at the same time, but Chris had always wanted a Halloween-themed sweater and he appreciated the fact that Darren’s mom had knitted it especially for him and so what if the sleeves were a little too big on him, Chris loved it and he was going to wear it proudly. 

Besides, seeing it helped to calm Darren’s racing nerves whenever he woke up without remembering when he’d fallen asleep. 

“Morning,” Darren mumbled. He leaned on his elbows to get himself off of the ground while Chris grabbed his backpack and made his way towards him. “What time is it?”

“Barely past ten,” answered Chris. 

“How long was I out?” Darren asked.

“Since…” Chris glanced up, as if trying to remember the exact time. “9:30-ish, I think. You passed out as soon as the sun came up.” His boyfriend knelt down by his side, put his hand on Darren’s back to help him sit up, and kissed his cheek. Only then did Darren realize he was mostly naked, except for a pair of underwear and a duvet covering him from neck to toes. 

“Oh, thanks!” he cried. 

“I thought you might get cold,” Chris said, searching for something inside his backpack. “The temperature’s been dropping lower and lower lately, and I didn’t know if your abnormal body heat worked when you weren’t a werewolf anymore.”

“It _does_ , but not as much. I mean, I wouldn’t freeze to death without the duvet, but I would still be really cold.” Darren stretched his arms over his head. Then he immediately winced, feeling like he’d worked out for a week without taking any breaks. One of these days, he was going to ask Chris to record him—what exactly did Darren get up to as a werewolf? What made him so physically tired?

“You okay?” Chris asked him. At the nod of Darren’s head, he seemed to conjure a bundle of clothes from his backpack: some jeans, socks, a pair of boots, and Darren’s favorite [hoodie](https://www.inthecompanyofdogs.com/itemdy00.aspx?ID=18,1260&T1=D156054+WRD+S)—a burgundy hoodie with the words _THINK PAWSITIVE_ written on it. He had given it to Chris as a joke after confessing he was a werewolf, and Chris, just like he did with his horrible pumpkin sweater, had used it as much as he could. After a particularly… _unfortunate_ full moon, Darren had found comfort in wearing something that smelled so much like Chris, and so he had borrowed it for a while.

‘A while’ had turned into a year and a half. Chris always said he was going to take back his hoodie one day, but Darren knew it was never going to happen.

“Ugh, you’re my favorite person in the entire world,” Darren groaned as he raised his arms so Chris could help him put the hoodie on. 

“And you’re my favorite werewolf,” Chris said, pressing another kiss to his cheek. He stood up and offered his hands to Darren, who gladly grasped them with his own and used them to pull himself to his feet. The duvet fell off him, and Darren couldn’t help remembering the first full moon they’d spent together, when the prospect of being almost entirely naked in front of Chris—whom he’d been dating for only two months—after a night of freely roaming around as a werewolf was the most embarrassed he had ever been. Now Darren held on to Chris’s shoulders while his boyfriend carefully put his pants on, any kind of embarrassment gone entirely. 

Once Darren was fully dressed thanks to Chris, he wrapped his arms around his chest and buried his head in the crook of his neck. Being this close, he had been able to notice the bags under Chris’s eyes, and he couldn’t believe how lucky he was. He had been terrified of confessing his secret to Chris, not wanting to ruin the best relationship he’d ever had. He feared Chris wouldn’t believe it, feared he would call him crazy or something worse—he feared Chris laughed at him and thought it was just a joke, or, the greatest of his nightmares, accepted it and then bailed on him as soon as the first full moon came around. 

But Chris hadn’t bailed. He was the most wonderful person Darren had ever met: he kept close track of the days with full moons, he had a backpack ready with clothes and a first-aid kit in case anything happened to Darren, he stayed awake through Darren’s turning and until he passed out in the same exact place every time, he followed Darren as closely as he could to make sure Darren didn’t do anything he would regret when he was back to his senses, and he hadn’t bailed.

He hadn’t bailed.

Darren had known werewolves whose partners of years, _decades_ , even, walked out on them because they couldn’t take it anymore, and although he and Chris had only been together for a little over three years, he had a good feeling about this. About _them_.

“I love you so much,” Darren muttered, feeling Chris’s arms on his waist pull him further into the embrace. He was practically melting against Chris’s chest now, his own legs rendered useless as he rested his entire weight on his boyfriend. Chris liked to tease him by saying Darren became even more of an affectionate puppy after a full moon, but now he wasn’t cracking any jokes. 

“I love you, too,” Chris whispered, and his palms rubbed soothing circles on Darren’s back, and all the love and care and understanding Chris had to give was in those circles, burying themselves in Darren’s skin, carving themselves into his flesh, his organs, down to his very bones, promising a lifetime of being there every single full moon and every single morning after. 

Darren really felt like his legs were completely useless. “Chris, I can’t move. I think you’re gonna have to carry me,” he grumbled. 

“I can’t carry you,” Chris argued. 

“Sure you can.”

“No, I can’t.”

Darren pouted, his words muffled by still having his face against the crook of Chris’s neck. “Why not?”

“Because I have to carry my backpack,” Chris replied, kissing Darren’s hair. 

“I can’t _move_ , Chris.” Darren started whimpering like a heartbroken puppy—he wasn’t above using his inborn abilities for his own purposes—until Chris smiled against his temple. 

“Okay, Mr. Werewolf,” he said, and Darren grinned at the nickname, “how about I make you a deal? You walk on your own, and when we get home, I’ll make us some breakfast, and then we can be lazy the rest of the day.”

Darren pulled away from Chris long enough to nuzzle their noses together. He might not remember anything from the last twelve hours, but at least he had slept a little. Chris had gone a day and a half without resting, following his werewolf boyfriend and keeping him away from trouble with the endurance of someone who wasn’t made to follow werewolves around, and yet he was the one offering to cook breakfast. 

“How about,” Darren whispered, “I walk on my own, I make us some breakfast, and then we’re lazy the rest of the day? How does that sound?” 

Chris sighed in contentment. “That sounds wonderful.” 

He leaned down at the same time Darren leaned up, and when they kissed, Darren could’ve sworn to anyone, on anyone’s name, that he and Chris were going to be together for the rest of their lives. Kissing Chris was like the first few minutes after regaining consciousness, when he knew that he had gone through another full moon and he felt relieved, _safe_ —when he remembered who he was. 

Chris’s mouth tasted like home. 

Darren picked up his boyfriend’s laptop and put it on the backpack Chris had brought along, offering to carry it for him while Chris carried the rolled-up duvet under his arm. They held hands as they made their way out of the meadow, the too-long sleeves of Chris’s sweater and Darren’s hoodie hiding their palms from sight. 

“Am I ever going to get my hoodie back?” Chris wondered. By the resignation in his voice, he already knew the answer.

“I wouldn’t count on it if I were you,” Darren said. Chris’s response was to laugh and pull him closer so that they walked with their shoulders practically glued together. 

Being a werewolf wasn’t at the top of the list of things Darren would have liked to be. Worrying every full moon about hurting someone or himself and then waking up having no memory of what he had done in the last few hours wasn’t a burden he would’ve chosen to carry. But knowing Chris would always be right there with him, that he would always carry half of the burden so that it wasn’t so heavy on Darren’s shoulders, that he would always love Darren in spite of it, made it all worth it.

And, honestly, Darren wouldn’t have it any other way.


End file.
